rambling rosemarie

Turns out Huey Lewis and I have more in common than I do with Venus Williams. I do not have Sjogren's Syndrome. it seems part of what my body wants is a new drug. I have been taking the old anti-inflammatory drug since 1990, 3 times a day, almost every day. Is it any wonder my body has had enough of it? Wednesday was rough as a Brillo pad on sunburned skin. I had to stop taking one drug to start taking another. I wasn't in withdrawals but I was cranky with pain. Yesterday I thought the new drug was going to be a failed experiment, but perhaps I needed to give it a week or two to introduce it to my body. I had a headache (no caffeine) I was dizzy (new drug) and woke up in pain (no taking old drug before bed). Sometime in the late evening my sister called and we discussed all things sisters discuss. I told her I had reservations about the way the new drug made me feel but had to admit that in the evening the dizziness had warn off and my body hurt less to move. Not so mu...

Trust me, if you can visualize what I am about to relay to you, you will laugh. I want to assure you that it's OK. I think it's funny too. Now it is funny. Earlier this morning? Maybe not so much. I suppose when you start to laugh could have some implications but I truly think if you don't laugh I would be more worried about you. I'll leave that up to you to decide. Yesterday was a gold star day for my accomplishment journal. I pulled some of my fall and winter clothes out of the back closet, laundered them and sorted them. May not sound like much but using my hands is what aggravates my neck injury. Reaching up to hang things in the closet or to bring them down from the rack is also painful. Along with the pinched nerves in my neck that compromise the use of my arms, I have had carpal tunnel syndrome for the last 18 or so years. I have ignored the clothes in the back closet for almost 3 years so I was ever so proud of myself until about 2am. At first I though...

Accomplishment Journal: I made lasagna for my BFF to feed her moving crew. I cleaned part of my kitchen. I complained bitterly about not being able to respond to an urgent request for volunteers from the disaster relief folks I joined. Wait...that's not a positive thing.... scratch that one off the list. I uh.... huh... I am pretty sure there was something else I did.... but I can't remember. None of it is "refrigerator material." Well, the lasagna went in the fridge, but nothing to proudly display on the outside. All that said, it was a good day interrupted by the occasional pity party. I'll send out invitations to the next one if you'll all agree to kick me in the backside when I start feeling sorry for myself.

Back when I could work for a living, which seems like forever ago, my employer paid a long term disability insurance policy for me in lieu of paying for medical benefits. I was blessed to have good insurance through my work in public safety. God's providence in that is the only reason I have maintained an Internet connection, food in the fridge, car insurance and can purchase the gas to drive the silly thing. I am grateful for the policy. I try to remind myself of that when I have to fill out the scads of paperwork they require from me to document my disability. It really does take an emotional toll to have to write over and over again all the things you cannot do. It also piques my sarcasm. I want to write things like, "I will never be able to participate in yak racing again" or "just the other day the pain in my neck was so severe I realized my days of being a casteller are behind me." I am not sure they would appreciate my humor. It's what I do t...